243: Chapter 243 Cotton Within Reach

Deng Xiaoqi's house and Chen Cheng's apartment were not in the same building, but they weren't far, just next door.

Chen Cheng walked her to her door.

"Brother Cheng, good night."

Standing at the doorway, Deng Xiaoqi fiddled with her fingers, her face flushed with shyness, "Good night, Brother Cheng."

Chen Cheng smiled, turned around, and entered the elevator.

Not until the elevator doors closed on Chen Cheng did Deng Xiaoqi skip back home.

Unable to suppress the joy on her face, she closed the door, leaned her entire body against it, covered her face, and breathed heavily.

Chen Cheng returned home, saw the fluctuating favorability rating, and the corners of his mouth lifted.

He didn't pay much mind to it, went into the bedroom, and drifted off to sleep while holding the curvaceous Lucy.

Just now in the elevator, Deng Xiaoqi had asked Chen Cheng why he was here.

Chen Cheng explained briefly that he had bought an apartment here.

He didn't say a single word about Lucy.

It was impossible to explain clearly, and it would easily distract the girl who had exams to worry about.

A few days later, school went on break, and Deng Xiaoqi invited Lin Miaomiao and the others to a recording studio.

Chen Cheng went later as well.

Right now, he was sitting on the sofa in the lounge area, roaming the King's Canyon with Lin Miaomiao, Jiang Tianhao, and Qian Sanyi.

"We're a four-man squad, the only random player is the unlucky one."

Lin Miaomiao laughed, unable to contain her joy.

"Invite one more, so we can coordinate better," Jiang Tianhao said casually.

Lin Miaomiao nodded, "Four-man squads easily run into five-man pre-made teams; we're at an inherent disadvantage being one man short."

The three of them scanned their online friends and found there were no suitable teammates at all.

To be able to queue together, the four of them had specifically switched to the Q-zone server; they didn't play much there, so they didn't really have any friends.

"Brother Cheng, do you have any friends online?"

Lin Miaomiao tugged at Chen Cheng, who was studying the hero list.

Chen Cheng raised an eyebrow, switched back to the game interface, and opened his friend list to take a look.

He froze when he saw the ID of the only friend online, ranked at the very top.

Plucking Cotton.

"Qiao Jingjing?" Chen Cheng muttered.

He then clicked the invite button.

Qiao Jingjing was sitting on the sofa looking at the game invite interface, and she froze at the name in the parentheses after the ID.

"Him?"

Qiao Jingjing immediately fell into a reverie.

She remembered that boy who had fought his way up from the parallel classes.

Back then, senior year classes were ranked.

Elite classes, experimental classes, parallel classes.

Corresponding rankings corresponded to corresponding classes, changing once a semester.

And after every monthly exam in Senior Class 5, they would shuffle seats.

Students chose for themselves.

The top-performing students got to choose first; if you had already found a desk-mate, you could bring them along to choose together.

Those with poor grades who hadn't found a desk-mate just had to leave it to fate.

But most of the time, they ended up guarding the trash can or the corner by the window.

And as luck would have it, she had placed last in that final exam.

She was extremely embarrassed and felt so ashamed.

She didn't even take the initiative to find a desk-mate.

And that was how she ended up becoming desk-mates with Chen Cheng, who had voluntarily sat in the corner by the window.

When Chen Cheng entered the class, he could actually rank in the top thirty.

Qiao Jingjing was quite puzzled at first; he could clearly have chosen the front row with a better view.

Later she realized that this guy didn't listen in class at all; he was entirely self-taught.

There was no need for him to sit in the front row.

In the monthly exam before winter break, Chen Cheng surged into the top thirty of the grade.

The seat by the window in the back row instantly became a hot commodity that everyone fought over.

However, this guy still ignored everyone.

But there were shameless people; even if he ignored them, the shameless ones would just sit there regardless.

The most infuriating thing was that this guy didn't object either.

He didn't consider the feelings of her, his desk-mate, at all.

It was truly infuriating.

Now, looking back, it seemed that throughout his entire senior year, he had been immersed in his own world.

Studying frantically every day, and only studying math, physics, chemistry, and biology.

Even during Chinese and English classes, he was reviewing math, physics, chemistry, and biology.

When a teacher came over to call on him, he wouldn't acknowledge them.

If they told him to put it away or stand in the corner, he would just take his book and walk out the back door of the classroom.

It left her stunned.

Was he really that hardcore?

Later, the Chinese and English teachers never bothered him again.

Because, as soon as it was time for Chinese or English review classes, this guy would simply disappear.

Qiao Jingjing, lost in memory, had forgotten about the game invite interface.

When she came to her senses, the invite had already timed out.

Qiao Jingjing raised an eyebrow and muttered, "Long time no see, Blockhead."

Then, she tapped her fingers to send a private message, "Sorry, I was spacing out just now and didn't see it."

"Are you still playing?"

Chen Cheng saw the private message, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he invited Plucking Cotton again.

Lin Miaomiao looked at the new person in the room and asked, "Brother Cheng, who is this?"

Chen Cheng thought for a moment and smiled, "My high school classmate."

He recalled his high school days; he really was a pure love warrior back then.

For the sake of Han Su, he had completely turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to his beautiful desk-mate.

It was quite abstract.

This was probably the youth of a young person.

Once you've set your heart on someone, you can no longer see anyone else.

But it's also hard to say it wasn't because Han Su was pretty, did well in school, and was especially hardworking.

Sometimes, when analyzing himself, Chen Cheng realized that in his youth, he also admired strength.

He had completely disregarded the academic underachiever Qiao Jingjing in his class, while falling for the beautiful and strong Han Su.

Looking back, it was a bit naive; an academic underachiever in an elite class was still at the 211-university level.

"Oh, oh," Lin Miaomiao nodded nonchalantly and shouted, "Cotton, hurry up and pick a position; my big blade has long been hungry and impatient."

Qiao Jingjing heard the lively female voice over the voice chat, her eyes widened, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

Is this his girlfriend?

Qiao Jingjing frowned slightly and typed a line in the chat box, "Okay."

Qiao Jingjing casually selected the fill role.

A smile appeared on her lips as she muttered, "Damn Blockhead, haven't seen you in ten years; today, I must screw you over hard."

Chen Cheng had a slightly devilish smile on his lips; he turned on the voice chat and said with a teasing tone, "Classmate Xiao Qiao, turn on your mic."

On the first day of his transmigration, when he was integrating his memories, he had already learned about the network of relationships in this life.

He was just very clear that while he could date female celebrities recklessly abroad, he couldn't do the same domestically.

The public opinion environment and the ideology of the fans were too different.

Abroad, celebrities could live normal lives; buying groceries or walking the dog wouldn't be too affected.

It was different domestically; even a minor celebrity.

When going out or standing in an elevator, they had to wear masks and hats, fully armed.

If they were accidentally recognized, regardless of whether people knew them or were fans, everyone would chase after them for autographs and photos, like a swarm of locusts.

Let alone a top-tier star like Qiao Jingjing.

If he were photographed with her, it probably wouldn't take long for his entire life to be dug up.

To be honest, Chen Cheng was more afraid than he was tempted.

Qiao Jingjing was stunned; Classmate Xiao Qiao?

Uh...

She found the voice button on the game interface and clicked it.

"Long time no see, big star."

Qiao Jingjing listened to this somewhat unfamiliar voice and was stunned for a moment, "Ahem~" She cleared her throat and asked, "How did you know who I am?"

Chen Cheng's mouth twitched, and he said testily, "Is it possible that this game can import your QQ friend list?"

Uh...

A flush of red immediately rushed to Qiao Jingjing's face; how could she have forgotten about that? She had just used that very feature to see his name.

Qiao Jingjing felt embarrassed, pouted, and started to change the subject, "Uh, well... the weather is nice today."